Liturgical Music?

Okay, so I've decided to take up the challenge of writing a mass. After realizing how difficult it is, I realize why so many church musicians complain about the "sad state of the liturgy." Have any of you tried writing a mass? If so, was it for liturgical use? And, lastly, did it do anything to cheer up the liturgy's sad state? Any opinions on liturgical music in general are appreciated.

Okay, so I've decided to take up the challenge of writing a mass. After realizing how difficult it is, I realize why so many church musicians complain about the "sad state of the liturgy."

1. Have any of you tried writing a mass?

2. If so, was it for liturgical use?

3. And, lastly, did it do anything to cheer up the liturgy's sad state?

Any opinions on liturgical music in general are appreciated.

1. yes

2. no

3. I honestly don't care if the priests are depressed. :P

Not belonging per se to a religious denomination, I write non-liturgical liturgical works!

I think of them more as humanist works, speaking to man's quest for knowledge and reassurance and hope and love.

Yes, I have written 5 different settings of the mass. The state of church music at least in the Catholic realm isn't the best. There is pretty much one setting of the mass that is almost universally known. The problem with new settings of the mass is that in a church setting, very few people are willing to do/learn something new. So many church folk are too set in their ways to 'experiment'. In addition, there has been much talk in the past few years about changing the text of the mass parts so this would render present settings obsolete. Which also means that there could be a good sized market for new settings of the mass in the near future. I have no idea when the change would be made or where the bishops are in the discussions of this area.

As of the last time I submitted masses to publishers, they all said that at the present time they weren't accepting submissions because of the impending changes.

If you want to know about the sad state of liturgical music, simply poll the church musicians that you know. Look for common threads in their responses and set about to 'fix' the problems. Personally, I find the accompaniments boring and meaningless. That is my biggest beef with church music.